Minnesota Twins Recap vs Toronto Blue Jays-August 4th, 2022

The Minnesota Twins started a 4-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays who fired manager Charlie Montoya a little more than 3 weeks ago. They were 4 games above .500 then and are now 12 games above .500 after going 12-4 with interim manager John Schneider at the helm. Should we really be that surprised? I mean, John Schreider has them “makin’ their way the only way they know how” now, right?*
*If you don’t know that reference, ask someone familiar with the 80’s.

The Twins are coming off a nice win for a series victory over the Detroit Tigers where three of their trade acquisitions made their Twins debuts and shined.

Twinsactions

It’s been crazy the last few days/weeks with all of the Twinsactions (Twins Transactions), huh? Well, we have some more yet again:

The Minnesota Twins placed OF Kyle Garlick on the 10-Day Injured List (IL) (retroactive to August 2nd) with a right rib contusion. They also reinstated OF Gilberto Celestino from the Paternity List, activated Trade Deadline acquisition RHP Tyler Mahle & optioned LHP  Jovani Moran.

Here’s how both teams lined up:

Minnesota Twins Lineup:

Toronto Blue Jays Lineup:

Game Recap

It was very sunny all day. How Sonny* was at Target Field?
*Funny that Sonny is followed by Gray. Mostly Sonny, then?

It’s a pretty tough matchup, though. Toronto Blue Jays starter RHP Alek Manoah has been very good through his 2nd season. A 1st time All-Star this year, he had a 2.43 ERA and a WHIP under 1 (0.99) through 20 starts.

The first 3 innings included just 2 walks for Toronto while the Twins did not get on base. 

In the 4th, Alexandro Kirk led off with a walk but Sonny Gray got RH Teoscar Hernández to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to quickly empty the bases then struck out SS Bo Bichette. The Twins got a leadoff single from SS Carlos Correa then DH Byron Buxton grounded out to 2nd. Both 2B Jorge Polanco & CF Nick Gordon walked to load the bases as 3B Jose Miranda came to the plate and he was hit on the left hand with a pitch to put the Twins up 1-0.

He stayed in the game after an injury delay then LF Jake Cave flew out to short to end the 4th inning.

1-0 Twins

Sonny Gray allowed another leadoff walk to begin the 5th inning but he struck out both 3B Matt Chapman and CF Whit Merrifield. 2B Cavan Biggio singled to center field and DH George Springer walked but Sonny got 1B Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. to ground out to short to keep Toronto off the board. The Twins got just a 1-out walk from C Gary Sánchez.

Minnesota Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli went to his bullpen as his starter had reached 96 pitches so he brought in RHP Emilio Pagán to pitch the 6th inning. He got Kirk to ground out for the 1st out but left a pitch up that was crushed by Teoscar Hernández to tie the game at 1. 

Bichette followed with a double to center field then a single from Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. brought Bichette in to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead. Chapman lined out to short and Carlos Correa tried to get the runner at first but it was wide and skipped on the grass to get past 1B Luis Arraez for a 2-base error putting Gurriel at 3rd. Whit Merrifield then singled to 3rd on a low throw that they still scored as a hit and it brought in another run. Biggio then grounded out to 1st to end the top of the 6th.

3-1 Blue Jays

Byron Buxton struck out to lead off the bottom of the 6th. Polanco walked and Nick Gordon doubled to right field to score Polanco but Jose Miranda grounded out to short and Jake Cave flew out to center field to leave & Gordon on base.

3-2 Blue Jays

RHP Trevor Megill replaced Pagán to pitch the 7th and he allowed a 1-out double to Guerrero, Jr. but got out of it with a flyout and a strikeout. Toronto replaced Manoah with LHP Tim Mayza and the Twins went down 1-2-3 on 2 groundouts and a strikeout.

Trevor Megill came out for another inning and promptly allowed another Bichette double and that was followed by an RBI-single from Gurriel, Jr. He got Chapman to strike out but Merrifield singled to right field so Rocco went to RHP Tyler Duffey and he allowed back-to-back singles that scored 2 more runs then Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. showed his power with a 3-run Home Run to left field and, just like that, it was

9-2 Blue Jays

Duffey then walked Kirk but got Hernández to ground into a 5-4-3 inning ending double play but the damage had been done.

The Twins got a 1-out walk from Buxton but nothing else to end the 8th.

Duffey came back out for the 9th, allowed a lead off single then got a force out and struck out the last 2 batters.

Don’t call it a comeback? Jack Cave hit his 1st home run of the season but that was it. A disappointing outing for the bullpen in what was a close game when they took over.

Get ’em tomorrow!

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Final Score
Toronto Blue Jays 9 |3 Minnesota Twins 
W-Manoah(12-5) L-Pagán(3-5)

Pitching
Starters
MN:
RHP Sonny Gray: 
5IP 1H 5BB 5K – No Decision

TOR:
RHP Alek Manoah: 
6IP 2H 2R/ER 4BB 5K  – 12th Win

Bullpen
MN:
RHP Emilio Pagán: 
1IP 4H 3R/2ER oBB oK 1HR – 5th Loss
RHP Trevor Megill: 
1.1IP 4H 3R/ER 0BB 2K HR
RHP Tyler Duffey: 
1.2IP 4H 3R/ER 1BB 2K HR

TOR: 
LHP Tim Mayza:
1IP 1K HR – 11th Hold
RHP Yimi Garcia: 
1IP 1BB 1K
RHP Anthony Bass: 
1IP 1H 1R/ER 1K 1HR

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Game Notes
*
Mistake Pitches will Kill You

It didn’t go the Twins way as they had the front end of their bullpen try to keep a 1-run lead and it didn’t work as Emilio Pagán gave up the lead and Trevor Megill & Tyler Duffey allowed it to get out of hand. 

Emilio Pagán threw a splitter that didn’t split and that ball didn’t come back but the single from Gurriel, Jr. isn’t a bad pitch as it was up & away but he got to it. 

Megill was getting too much of the plate missing more in the zone instead of more out of the zone whether that’s east-west or north-south. Duffey missed on a couple of pitches, especially the home run ball to Guerrero, but the Springer 2-run single isn’t a bad pitch. He just put in play and took advantage of the infield being in.

But… they have to do better with their command and their control. Duffey’s knuckle curve which was hit for the 2-run single from Springer and the Home Run from Guerrero has been a bad pitch for most of the season.

It’s a combination of his fastball velocity being down and the curveball popping up too much so it’s easy to recognize and if it’s popping up, it’s usually going to be a meatball.

Duffey had messed with adding a changeup and it seemed to breathe some new life into him. Did he go away from it? He’s only thrown 33 of them according to Baseball Savant.

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Next Up
Game 2:
RHP Tyler Mahle
(5-7, 4.40 ERA, 1.246 WHIP*)

vs 

RHP José Berríos 
(8-4, 4.96 ERA, 1.321 WHIP)

*ERA=Earned Run Average, WHIP=Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched

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